Ubuntu Philosophy & Meaning

Philosophy

Ubuntu is an
ethic or humanist philosophy focusing on people's allegiances and
relations with each other. The word has its origin in the Bantu
languages of southern Africa. Ubuntu is seen as a classical African
concept.The Ubuntu
operating system was named for this principle.

Meaning:

A person with
Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not
feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a
proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs
in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or
diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

Archbishop
Desmond Tutu further explained Ubuntu in 2008:

One of the
sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu
speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human
being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't
be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu -
you are known for your generosity.

We
think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated
from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects
the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the
whole of humanity.

Louw
(1998) suggests that the concept of ubuntu defines the individual in
their several relationships with others, and stresses the importance
of ubuntu as a religious concept. He states that while the Zulu maxim
umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu ("a person is a person through (other)
persons") may have no apparent religious connotations in the
context of Western society, in an African context it suggests that
the person one is to become by behaving with humanity is an ancestor
worthy of respect or veneration. Those who uphold the principle of
ubuntu throughout their lives will, in death, achieve a unity with
those still living.

Nelson Mandela
explained Ubuntu as follows:

A traveler
through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask
for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food,
entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu but it will have various
aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address
themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in
order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?.